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Battle pass

April 11, 2024

For the American Revolutionary War site in New York, see Battle Pass (Brooklyn). For the Battle Pass Scenic Byway, see Wyoming Highway 70.

In the video game industry, a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges. Inspired by the season pass ticketing system and originating with Dota 2 in 2013, the battle pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and loot boxes beginning in the late 2010s. Battle passes tend to offer free passes, which are available to all users, and premium passes that require annual or seasonal charges in exchange for enhanced items and cosmetics.

An example of a Battle Pass screen from the game Fortnite Battle Royale, showing its original two-tier, multi-level reward system of Chapter 1 Season 8. (2019)

Battle passes may be given different terms depending on the game. For example, Rocket League and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds offer a "Rocket Pass" and "Survivor Pass" respectively.[1][2]

Concept

A battle pass may be offered free to a player, or may require the player to purchase it through microtransactions. Once obtained, the battle pass presents the player with a number of reward tiers; by earning enough experience to complete the tier, the player gains the rewards offered at that tier. These rewards are typically cosmetic in nature, such as character and weapon customization options (also known as "skins"), emotes, and other non-gameplay affecting elements. More desirable rewards are provided at higher levels, which offer a way for players to show off these unique customization options to other players as a status symbol.[3] Experience is gained through normal gameplay, and often through in-game challenges, while some games offer a way to accelerate progression through a battle pass by using microtransactions.[4] In games that offer both free and paid-for battle passes, the free pass may have a very limited number of tiers or offer fewer or less-desirable rewards, but will track player's progression through the paid-for battle pass, allowing them to buy that battle pass at any time to reap the rewards.[4][5]

Battle passes and the rewards contained are only available for a limited time, most commonly a few months, after which a new season battle pass, with a new set of rewards, is available to be acquired. Most battle pass items are unobtainable after the season ends.[4] This limited availability feeds into the psychological phenomenon of fear of missing out (FOMO), that a player, knowing certain rewards will only be available for a limited time, will be driven to buy and complete the battle pass to assure they have obtained the limited rewards in time, bringing more revenue to the game.[6] To this end, a battle pass's progression towards rewards has to be balanced against expected gameplay time and what gameplay elements contribute towards this to avoid making the progression feel like grinding. For example, Halo Infinite's multiplayer debuted with a battle pass that was criticized for being too slow in progression, which developer 343 Industries stated they would observe and balance in the future.[7]

History

One of the first known examples of a battle pass concept was seen in Valve's Dota 2 during an event that surrounded The International 2013, the annual e-sports tournament for the game.[8] Called the "Compendium", it provided unique in-game content and other features for those players that purchased it, with 25% of all revenue made from it going towards the prize pool for the event.[4][9] In 2016, Valve included the Compendium into the larger International Battle Pass, and later introduced a monthly form of one with their Dota Plus subscription feature in 2018.[10][11] Valve also added "campaign passes" to Team Fortress 2 with special events in 2015. The campaign pass gave the player that purchased it a number of goals to complete during the event to receive unique customization options.[12][13]

The popularity of these passes grew significantly in 2018 with the use in Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale. Its runaway success on a scale rarely seen before drew great interest towards its monetization methods. The free-to-play game adopted a "season"-driven release schedule, each season lasting about 10-20 weeks, during which a new set of cosmetic items and emotes were offered, with those from the previous pass becoming permanently unobtainable. The newly coined "Battle Pass" was added starting in its second season, during a time when the game was seeing a large growth in its player base and has been used by the game since.[14] Battle passes are purchased through an in-game currency called V-Bucks, which either must be purchased with real-world funds via microtransactions, or earned via Fortnite: Save the World, as well as through the battle pass itself. Analyst Michael Pachter estimated that on the first day of the third season, in February 2018, Epic sold more than five million battle passes, generating over US$50 million in revenue in a single day.[15] With expansion of Fortnite to mobile devices in March 2018, revenue estimates from the game were in the hundreds of millions of dollars per month in the following months, primarily from battle pass sales.[16]

At the same time as Fortnite was becoming a success, the video game industry had been dealing with the issue of loot boxes, another monetization scheme where players spend funds to open boxes containing a random assortment of in-game items. In the late 2010s, loot boxes faced scrutiny from several government-related groups, believing they encouraged gambling, particularly for young players. Battle passes were then seen as a preferable option to loot boxes, as players would be able to see all the rewards they could earn, even if they needed to spend a great deal of time completing all the tiers, assuring players continued to play the game. Further, by offering the means for players to buy into completing tiers, publishers could also see additional revenue.[4]

Coupled with the success of Fortnite's battle pass approach and exhaustion over loot box controversies, other publishers started to evaluate battle pass use, with gaming journalists theorizing that games which formerly relied on loot boxes or worked as a service could begin to offer battle passes as a replacement.[4][17] An increasing number of mobile games including but not limited to Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, Clash Royale, Clash of Clans, and Brawl Stars have started using the battle pass system in their games.[18] Some games, such as Super Animal Royale and Halo Infinite, use non-expiring battle passes, where old battle passes remain purchasable and usable even after their respective season ends, but only one pass may be enabled at a time.[19][20] Deep Rock Galactic distributes items from seasonal passes into other cosmetic pools when the season concludes so that players are able to access cosmetics even after it has ended.[21]

The debut of Overwatch 2's battle pass system, replacing the previous loot box system, was criticized by players as Blizzard Entertainment stated that new playable heroes would be available through the free tiers of the battle pass, though could be obtained earlier by paying for the premium battle pass. Blizzard also confirmed that players who miss the free hero during one season would be able to obtain the hero by a free route in future seasons. This was in contrast to Overwatch where all players had access to new heroes for free once they were released. Players considered this change a pay to win approach by Blizzard as well as forcing players to grind to get access to new heroes.[22]

References

  1. ^ Wright, Steven (June 19, 2018). "'Rocket League' Director Talks Rocket Pass, Loot Boxes, Bonuses and Penalties". Variety. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  2. ^ Knezevic, Kevin. "PUBG's Fortnite-Style Event Pass Available Today With New Update". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  3. ^ Jordan, Jon (July 2, 2018). "Why Fortnite's monetisation is easy to copy but its success hard to replicate". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Davenport, James (July 5, 2018). "Battle passes are replacing loot boxes, but they're not necessarily a better deal". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  5. ^ Carter, Chris (March 26, 2018). "Fortnite loot box and Battle Pass beginner's guide". Polygon. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "Do you buy battle passes, and do you complete them?". PC Gamer. August 5, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  7. ^ "Halo Infinite developers already reevaluating its stingy battle pass". Polygon. November 16, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  8. ^ Van Allen, Eric (July 13, 2017). "How Exactly Does Dota 2 Come Up With Over $20 Million In Prizes For Its Biggest Event?". Kotaku. from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  9. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (June 21, 2018). "Battle Passes Are So Hot Right Now". Kotaku. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  10. ^ Thursten, Chris (January 26, 2016). "The Winter Battle Pass is Valve's best Dota 2 event yet". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  11. ^ Pereira, Chris. "Valve Overhauls Dota 2 Battle Pass With Subscription-Based Dota Plus". GameSpot. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  12. ^ Wilson, Nick (July 2, 2015). "Team Fortress 2's Gun Mettle update adds CS:GO like weapon skins and campaigns". PCGamesN. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  13. ^ Meija, Ozzie (January 24, 2019). "Here's Everything Featured in the Team Fortress 2 'Jungle Inferno' Update". Shacknews. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  14. ^ Saed, Sherif (December 15, 2017). "Fortnite Battle Royale gets Dota 2-style Battle Pass, loads of new items". VG247. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  15. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (May 25, 2018). "Fortnite sold 5 million battle passes on the first day of Season 3". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  16. ^ Parker, Jason (May 24, 2018). "Fortnite tallied almost $300 million in April, with no signs of slowing down". CNet. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  17. ^ Ashley, Clayton (May 21, 2018). "What Fortnite's Battle Pass gets right". Polygon. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  18. ^ "Battle Pass is a hot trend in mobile games - like it or not". GameRefinery. December 17, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  19. ^ "Super Animal Royale Season 2 Start Date Announced". Twinfinite. December 2, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  20. ^ Goslin, Austen (June 14, 2021). "Halo Infinite's battle passes will never expire". Polygon. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  21. ^ Earle, Sharnelle (February 12, 2022). "Everything You Need To Know About Rival Incursion In Deep Rock Galactic". TheGamer. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  22. ^ Wheeler, CJ (September 15, 2022). "Blizzard detail Overwatch 2's season one, and its controversial battle passes". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved September 15, 2022.

April 11, 2024
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For the American Revolutionary War site in New York see Battle Pass Brooklyn For the Battle Pass Scenic Byway see Wyoming Highway 70 In the video game industry a battle pass or rewards track is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system rewarding the player with in game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges Inspired by the season pass ticketing system and originating with Dota 2 in 2013 the battle pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and loot boxes beginning in the late 2010s Battle passes tend to offer free passes which are available to all users and premium passes that require annual or seasonal charges in exchange for enhanced items and cosmetics An example of a Battle Pass screen from the game Fortnite Battle Royale showing its original two tier multi level reward system of Chapter 1 Season 8 2019 Battle passes may be given different terms depending on the game For example Rocket League and PlayerUnknown s Battlegrounds offer a Rocket Pass and Survivor Pass respectively 1 2 ConceptA battle pass may be offered free to a player or may require the player to purchase it through microtransactions Once obtained the battle pass presents the player with a number of reward tiers by earning enough experience to complete the tier the player gains the rewards offered at that tier These rewards are typically cosmetic in nature such as character and weapon customization options also known as skins emotes and other non gameplay affecting elements More desirable rewards are provided at higher levels which offer a way for players to show off these unique customization options to other players as a status symbol 3 Experience is gained through normal gameplay and often through in game challenges while some games offer a way to accelerate progression through a battle pass by using microtransactions 4 In games that offer both free and paid for battle passes the free pass may have a very limited number of tiers or offer fewer or less desirable rewards but will track player s progression through the paid for battle pass allowing them to buy that battle pass at any time to reap the rewards 4 5 Battle passes and the rewards contained are only available for a limited time most commonly a few months after which a new season battle pass with a new set of rewards is available to be acquired Most battle pass items are unobtainable after the season ends 4 This limited availability feeds into the psychological phenomenon of fear of missing out FOMO that a player knowing certain rewards will only be available for a limited time will be driven to buy and complete the battle pass to assure they have obtained the limited rewards in time bringing more revenue to the game 6 To this end a battle pass s progression towards rewards has to be balanced against expected gameplay time and what gameplay elements contribute towards this to avoid making the progression feel like grinding For example Halo Infinite s multiplayer debuted with a battle pass that was criticized for being too slow in progression which developer 343 Industries stated they would observe and balance in the future 7 HistoryOne of the first known examples of a battle pass concept was seen in Valve s Dota 2 during an event that surrounded The International 2013 the annual e sports tournament for the game 8 Called the Compendium it provided unique in game content and other features for those players that purchased it with 25 of all revenue made from it going towards the prize pool for the event 4 9 In 2016 Valve included the Compendium into the larger International Battle Pass and later introduced a monthly form of one with their Dota Plus subscription feature in 2018 10 11 Valve also added campaign passes to Team Fortress 2 with special events in 2015 The campaign pass gave the player that purchased it a number of goals to complete during the event to receive unique customization options 12 13 The popularity of these passes grew significantly in 2018 with the use in Epic Games Fortnite Battle Royale Its runaway success on a scale rarely seen before drew great interest towards its monetization methods The free to play game adopted a season driven release schedule each season lasting about 10 20 weeks during which a new set of cosmetic items and emotes were offered with those from the previous pass becoming permanently unobtainable The newly coined Battle Pass was added starting in its second season during a time when the game was seeing a large growth in its player base and has been used by the game since 14 Battle passes are purchased through an in game currency called V Bucks which either must be purchased with real world funds via microtransactions or earned via Fortnite Save the World as well as through the battle pass itself Analyst Michael Pachter estimated that on the first day of the third season in February 2018 Epic sold more than five million battle passes generating over US 50 million in revenue in a single day 15 With expansion of Fortnite to mobile devices in March 2018 revenue estimates from the game were in the hundreds of millions of dollars per month in the following months primarily from battle pass sales 16 At the same time as Fortnite was becoming a success the video game industry had been dealing with the issue of loot boxes another monetization scheme where players spend funds to open boxes containing a random assortment of in game items In the late 2010s loot boxes faced scrutiny from several government related groups believing they encouraged gambling particularly for young players Battle passes were then seen as a preferable option to loot boxes as players would be able to see all the rewards they could earn even if they needed to spend a great deal of time completing all the tiers assuring players continued to play the game Further by offering the means for players to buy into completing tiers publishers could also see additional revenue 4 Coupled with the success of Fortnite s battle pass approach and exhaustion over loot box controversies other publishers started to evaluate battle pass use with gaming journalists theorizing that games which formerly relied on loot boxes or worked as a service could begin to offer battle passes as a replacement 4 17 An increasing number of mobile games including but not limited to Call of Duty Mobile PUBG Mobile Clash Royale Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars have started using the battle pass system in their games 18 Some games such as Super Animal Royale and Halo Infinite use non expiring battle passes where old battle passes remain purchasable and usable even after their respective season ends but only one pass may be enabled at a time 19 20 Deep Rock Galactic distributes items from seasonal passes into other cosmetic pools when the season concludes so that players are able to access cosmetics even after it has ended 21 The debut of Overwatch 2 s battle pass system replacing the previous loot box system was criticized by players as Blizzard Entertainment stated that new playable heroes would be available through the free tiers of the battle pass though could be obtained earlier by paying for the premium battle pass Blizzard also confirmed that players who miss the free hero during one season would be able to obtain the hero by a free route in future seasons This was in contrast to Overwatch where all players had access to new heroes for free once they were released Players considered this change a pay to win approach by Blizzard as well as forcing players to grind to get access to new heroes 22 References Wright Steven June 19 2018 Rocket League Director Talks Rocket Pass Loot Boxes Bonuses and Penalties Variety Retrieved June 19 2018 Knezevic Kevin PUBG s Fortnite Style Event Pass Available Today With New Update Eurogamer Retrieved July 9 2018 Jordan Jon July 2 2018 Why Fortnite s monetisation is easy to copy but its success hard to replicate Pocket Gamer Retrieved July 6 2018 a b c d e f Davenport James July 5 2018 Battle passes are replacing loot boxes but they re not necessarily a better deal PC Gamer Retrieved July 5 2018 Carter Chris March 26 2018 Fortnite loot box and Battle Pass beginner s guide Polygon Retrieved July 6 2018 Do you buy battle passes and do you complete them PC Gamer August 5 2020 Retrieved June 14 2021 Halo Infinite developers already reevaluating its stingy battle pass Polygon November 16 2021 Retrieved November 16 2021 Van Allen Eric July 13 2017 How Exactly Does Dota 2 Come Up With Over 20 Million In Prizes For Its Biggest Event Kotaku Archived from the original on July 14 2017 Retrieved July 14 2017 D Anastasio Cecilia June 21 2018 Battle Passes Are So Hot Right Now Kotaku Retrieved June 21 2018 Thursten Chris January 26 2016 The Winter Battle Pass is Valve s best Dota 2 event yet PC Gamer Retrieved June 19 2018 Pereira Chris Valve Overhauls Dota 2 Battle Pass With Subscription Based Dota Plus GameSpot Retrieved March 12 2018 Wilson Nick July 2 2015 Team Fortress 2 s Gun Mettle update adds CS GO like weapon skins and campaigns PCGamesN Retrieved January 24 2019 Meija Ozzie January 24 2019 Here s Everything Featured in the Team Fortress 2 Jungle Inferno Update Shacknews Retrieved January 24 2019 Saed Sherif December 15 2017 Fortnite Battle Royale gets Dota 2 style Battle Pass loads of new items VG247 Retrieved July 14 2018 Valentine Rebekah May 25 2018 Fortnite sold 5 million battle passes on the first day of Season 3 GamesIndustry biz Retrieved July 6 2018 Parker Jason May 24 2018 Fortnite tallied almost 300 million in April with no signs of slowing down CNet Retrieved July 6 2018 Ashley Clayton May 21 2018 What Fortnite s Battle Pass gets right Polygon Retrieved June 19 2018 Battle Pass is a hot trend in mobile games like it or not GameRefinery December 17 2019 Retrieved October 29 2020 Super Animal Royale Season 2 Start Date Announced Twinfinite December 2 2021 Retrieved May 13 2022 Goslin Austen June 14 2021 Halo Infinite s battle passes will never expire Polygon Retrieved June 14 2021 Earle Sharnelle February 12 2022 Everything You Need To Know About Rival Incursion In Deep Rock Galactic TheGamer Retrieved July 7 2022 Wheeler CJ September 15 2022 Blizzard detail Overwatch 2 s season one and its controversial battle passes Rock Paper Shotgun Retrieved September 15 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Battle pass amp oldid 1189571126, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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